Electric motors are everywhere. In homes, almost every mechanical movement is caused by an AC (alternating current) or DC (direct current) electric motor. A simple motor typically has six parts, an armature or rotor, a commutator, brushes, an axle, a field magnet, and a power supply of some sort. An electric motor utilizes the principles of magnets and magnetism: A motor uses magnets to create motion. The fundamental law of all magnets is that opposites attract and likes repel. With two bar magnets the north end of one magnet will attract the south end of the other. On the other hand, the north end of one magnet will repel the north end of the other (and similarly, south will repel south). Inside an electric motor, these attracting and repelling forces create rotational motion.
The axle holds the armature and the commutator. The armature is a set of electromagnets, typically three of them. The armature generally is a set of thin metal plates stacked together, with thin copper wire coiled around each of the three poles of the armature. The two ends of each wire (one wire for each pole) are soldered onto a terminal, and then each of the three terminals is wired to one plate of the commutator. The final piece of any electric motor is the field magnet. The motor body itself typically forms the field magnet plus curved permanent magnets. As discussed above, these prior electromagnetic motors require several parts adding to complexity and expense of the motor.
In operation, the armature is suspended within the motor body between the permanent magnets. With the power source attached to the electromagnet, the north end of the electromagnet would be repelled from the north end of the magnets and attracted to the south end of the magnets. The south end of the electromagnet would be repelled in a similar way. The electromagnet would turn to this position and then stop. It can be shown that this motion is simply due to the way magnets naturally attract and repel one another. In a typical electromagnetic motor, at the moment that this turn of motion completes, the polarity of the power supply can be switched and thus the field of the electromagnet flips. The magnetic field is flipped by changing the direction of the electrons flowing in the wire connected to the electromagnet. The flip causes the electromagnet to complete another turn. This process of flipping the polarity is continued at the end of each turn, causing the electric motor to spin. However, a power supply is required to magnetize the electromagnet to allow the electromagnet to spin. Therefore, in electromagnetic motors, power must be consumed to create power or perform work. Depending on the application, this can amount to a lot of power.
Presently magnetic motors have permanent magnets in outer field cores with electrical windings, or have permanent magnets in a center rotor with electrical coils driving the center rotor around as discussed above. Motors with outer field cores such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,463 issued Dec. 17, 1985, to H. Kobayashi, have permanent magnets in an outer field core, with a double cage winding and permanent magnets attached to a center rotor which turns against an uneven outer field core. However, these motors require more electrical energy for more workable power. Further, present electromagnetic motors lose energy due to heat build up when the motor runs for extended periods of time.
It is desirable to have an magnetic motor with fewer electrical parts. It is also desirable to have an electromagnetic motor free from electrical winding, which are constantly turning on and off to make one full revolution for the motor which also requires additional power to perform more work.